Mideast momentum: U.S. must play role in roadmap to peace

The road map to peace first requires Palestinian and Israeli leaders to desire peace on realistic terms, but the United States has a large supporting role to play.

Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle

Published
6:30 am CST, Tuesday, February 8, 2005

There is a persistent theory that if only the United States had exerted more leadership, or less leadership, or a different style of leadership, more progress could have been made toward peace in the Middle East. This notion, however, should have been persuasively undermined during the last year of the Clinton administration. Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat rejected reasonable terms and the possibility of negotiating better ones, choosing instead to launch a second, ruinous intifada.

Arafat's death, however, has brought renewed hope that an Israeli-Palestinian settlement can be reached. Each day seems to bring a new concession, agreement or at least cordial communication between the parties. Visiting Israel Sunday, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice noted that terrorism must be vanquished, but this was a time of optimism.

Today Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas meet in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheik to declare a cessation of violence that for four years has taken a toll as needless as it was horrendous. The cease-fire is an essential precursor to successful negotiations.

Arafat's death seemed to cut chains binding Palestinians to the past. Perhaps the elections in Afghanistan and Iraq — and their own choosing of a successor to Arafat — imparted to Palestinians the belief that they, too, could affect their destiny and steer a better course. Perhaps both sides were weary of terror and mayhem and were nearing a breaking point.

Although this new and building moment toward peace owes much to the desire of most Israelis and Palestinians and their leaders to substitute peace negotiations for terrorist bombs followed by tank movements and aerial assassinations, there is an important supporting role for the United States to play. Europe can lend encouragement and resources, but only the United States can coordinate and vouch for the steps each side must take to build trust and reach an agreement.

Just in time for this unforeseen moment, Rice University's Baker Institute has produced a policy guide for U.S. involvement. The institute's director, former U.S. Ambassador to Israel and Syria Edward Djerejian, calls the guide a "street map for the road map," because it diagrams specific steps each side must take, and when, and what assistance they will require from the United States.

In order for the new Palestinian government to deliver on its end of the bargain, it must have revenue and technical assistance to create a working, secure, uncorrupted apparatus from the ground up, the Baker Institute reports. Sharon will need assistance disengaging from Gaza and Palestinian cities of the West Bank.

The Palestinian economy is prostrate. This can be seen in the announcement that Palestinian fighters who renounce attacks against Israel can join a restructured Palestinian police force. This is not because a life previously devoted to hate and violence has prepared them for a career in law enforcement. It is because there are few other jobs to keep them constructively occupied.

The Baker Institute recommends that the United States lead an international effort to develop the Palestinian economy. Development will be essential if hope is to replace despair and peace to succeed war.

Djerejian offers important advice. Given the nature of the Middle East conflict, something will happen to derail the negotiations — renewed bombing of Israeli civilians, a disproportionate retaliation, some unforgivable arrogance displayed by one negotiator to another. For these inevitable events, both sides must have a fail-safe procedure for keeping the process going.